House of Hydrangeas

I am many things, but one of them is not decisive.  I admit I have gotten better over the years, but I still have a long way to go.  For some reason, I am really good about answering someone else's questions, but when it comes to decisions in my own, I'm often torn between options.  Right now those options involve a new coffee table. I've been using a faux letter ottoman as my coffee table for the last 4 years.  I got it right before I moved to Dallas, and it worked great in my little studio, but now we need something a little more substantial. I've been debating for awhile on what I want in a coffee table and my ideas are pretty wide in range.  The one thing I have ruled out is getting a glass table.  I think they are beautiful, but often times not the most functional or realistic-especially if we plan on having children in the next few years.   So that leaves me with these three options: wood, acrylic and fabric (on a larger, tufted ottoman). ...

Does anyone else feel compelled to immediately go scour flea markets after watching Dear Genevieve?  Maybe it's just me... as if my urge isn't bad enough already.  She and her team always snatch up the best finds.  Yet another reason why New York City is so great and should be frequented by me much more often :) This is one of my favorite designs she just recently did on her show.  This NYC studio apartment needed a major overhaul in the living room--luckily Genevieve was able to transform it to a thing of beauty.  And even though I don't normally go for pink, Genevieve totally rocked the pale pink walls.  This space is a perfect mix of eclectic antiques and modern charm-bohemian romance I like to call it. *Please excuse the TV photos.  HGTV may be good at a lot of things, but they are horrible at posting pictures from their shows.  Lucky for you, I still had the episode saved in our DVR and was able to pause the scenes and snap a few shots.* ...

I always keep a wish list on Kaboodle.com of things that I'd like to buy but can't at the moment.  While my list is comprised of things from jewelry to shoes to paintings, today I thought I'd share my living room furniture/accessories items I have on there. I don't hate my current living room.  However, aside from our couch, just about everything else belonged to one of us long before we got married.  So of course I have that itch to add a few new touches and create a new style.  And these are the pieces I would use!  

When I came across this beautiful home, designed by Jonie from  Cote de Texas , my jaw dropped.  It's absolutely beautiful and right up my design alley.  After seeing the color palette, bamboo shades, sea grass rug, striped curtains and trellis fabric, I thought I'd died and gone to design heaven.  The fabric really is what makes the room and it's all from Windsor Smith Home Collection.  I've mentioned their fabric before, but I don't really know that I can say enough.   The room has a great mix of patterns. Each area works so well together, functioning as one cohesive space. I love the sofa table with the marble top and the linen lamp shades are perfect.  I think I might have looked for a slightly larger mirror for the mantle though. This light fixture is gorgeous and the slip covers are an adorable tie-in with the living room.   I could definitely do without the ceiling fan, but I'm sure that's something the client wanted to stay. What do ...

Because I'm always so inspired by other people's before and after's, I thought I would share some of our's. Since we're in a rental, we haven't done any major changes-painting, building or tearing down anything. Our design facelifts are mostly done with a few new furniture pieces and accessories. But if you ask me, there's still a world of a difference. Today, I'll share with you the transformation of the living room. Before: When Jon first moved into this place over a year and a half ago, it looked pretty sparse with just his furniture. Luckily when I moved in a few months ago, that all changed. We have a pretty long living room with a huge opening on the wall leading into the dining room so the original furniture placement created a very undesirable empty space in the back of the room. After: Enter my couch from Dallas. This couch has been in my family for nearly 20 years and still feels like new. The cushions have just as much volume to the...